Finish Line
by mulitcom
Summary: Three years ago, Wally died. Then he came back.


**My first Young Justice fanfiction is a deathfic! Wow. I never state the reason he died, by the way... let's just pretend he was brutally slain by Professor Zoom, okay? I can't imagine anyone killing Wally West. *heartbreak***

**Thank you for giving this a try. You are amazing.**

* * *

><p>Three years ago, Wally died. Then he came back. But first he was dead.<p>

America mourned him, of course. People around the world felt grief as well, though not to an extent as great as the Americans', since the metahuman lived in the United States and was an American hero. Kid Flash—or Wallace West, after his identity was revealed following his death—was the sidekick of a first-rank Justice League member, as well as possibly a member of that new underground teen team that people had heard rumors about. Little was known about him prior to his death, but he had been adored by many squealing girls and appreciative fans everywhere. Orange hair had been a trend at some point, and red and yellow were often worn together as a fashion statement. Kid Flash was a hero.

Well. He had been one, but then he died. Heroes were always dying, it seemed.

A candlelight vigil was held. The Wests and Allens and Garricks stayed inside for a week and refused to talk to the press. Dick Grayson locked himself up in his room at Wayne Manor and didn't leave his bed for anything—school, food, crime fighting. Losing his best friend was painful—it was as if sharp claws were scratching at his insides, shredding everything to pieces. No thirteen year old boy could possibly have enough strength to face that, not even the Dark Knight's partner.

Four years had passed since Robin's parents had been murdered. This hurt just as much.

So Batman let him be.

At the Cave, Miss Martian stopped baking cookies, as Wally was no longer there to be the human vacuum he usually was. M'gann sought out Superboy for comfort, and it was a mutual exchange. It had been barely a year since his cloning, and he didn't quite know how to react to all the grief he felt following Wally's death. It radiated off of him in waves, and M'gann could sense it. Sometimes she and Superboy held hands on the sofa and silently stared blankly at the TV. It was on most of the time, playing _Hello Megan _or something like that, but to her it seemed like there was nothing but static, like that first time Conner had tried to watch television on his own.

Static. Without Wally, everything was static.

Kaldur decided to take a break from the team, and he went back to Atlantis for a while. It wasn't permanent, he assured his friends. He just needed some emotional relief and some time away from the team. His voice broke at the end of his sentence, and he dove into the water without another word.

At least he would find comfort in Atlantis. His teammates were too busy being inconsolable themselves to provide any comfort for each other.

It was hard for Artemis. Maybe the hardest, because she had really begun to… not hate Wally. But she had her coping mechanisms, and she used them well. She was good at hiding things—her father had taught her just how to fool people. And she didn't cry, either. She just didn't do that.

But she was angry. Arrows flew and you couldn't walk around town without seeing one and wondering if Green Arrow had come for a visit or something.

One dreary night, while prowling the streets of Gotham (usually a job for Batman and Robin, but Robin was currently out of commission), Artemis spotted figure hunched over in an alley. A homeless person, she thought at first, but homeless people didn't carry arrows or wear clean red and black costumes. It was, maskless and vulnerable, the former partner of Artemis's 'uncle' Green Arrow.

Without the mask, Artemis noticed just how pretty Roy's eyes were. The color, a plain shade of blue, was not as exciting as Wally's bright expressive green had been (it was painful to think about him) and not even as captivating as her own stormy grey, but they were wide and deep-set and fringed by long dark boy-lashes. A bit bloodshot—odd, because Roy didn't strike Artemis as the teary type.

And that's when she noticed the syringe in Roy's hand, and the unhealthily hungry, slightly unhinged look on his face. In a flash—no, that was a bad word to use, it made her think of Wally, but then again, everything made her think of Wally—she swiped the drug away from him and used her free hand (she was delightfully ambidextrous, so it must have hurt) to slap him as hard as she could. Ouch. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Artemis snarled at Roy. "Heroin, _Red Arrow_?"

He looked up at her with his auburn hair sticking up everywhere and seemed like a beautiful mess, something very different from his serious, broody, boring usual self, whom she rarely saw anyway.

_I have a thing for redheads_, Artemis realized, and she felt like screaming.

"Wally," Roy said hollowly. "He's dead."

Well, she knew that. She just hadn't accepted it till now.

"I know," she rasped. Did she?

Suddenly Artemis felt her knees buckle, and she found herself curled up next to Roy, shaking and wondering why her face was wet when it wasn't even raining.

The funeral was sad. Everything was sad. End of story.

* * *

><p>So… when Wally came back to life, everybody died of shock.<p>

Well. Bad hyperbole. But not too soon.

It was three years later, and the team hadn't disbanded, surprisingly enough. Roy had joined in eventually, with Artemis aiding him in more ways than one, helping him fight his heroin addiction as well as convincing him to quit working alone. As it turned out, Roy had been experimenting with drugs even before Wally's death, and losing such a close friend had pushed him off the edge.

The team became known as Young Justice to the public—and slowly, they became a _mainstream_ team, something just as unexpected as the name they acquired. Along the way, they recruited a new speedster, Bart Allen, who was the Flash's grandson from the future or some mixed-up story like that, and he called himself Impulse. The Justice League had wanted him to take up the name Kid Flash, but that just didn't feel right. That would be so _wrong_.Bart, or Impulse, was hilarious and fun to be around, and a bit annoying as well, which was all too familiar… But he was no Wally. They all knew that.

On the day of Wally's return, everyone was going on about their business like usual, clueless, and Impulse was bothering the living shit out of Artemis.

"Arty! Arty!"

She growled under her breath and spun around, bow drawn. When it came to Bart, the only way to scare him off was to get violent and brandish her bow and arrows. "What do you want, Bart?"

"Eep." Bart zoomed away, then back when Artemis lowered her weapon. Just as quick as before, she raised it again. Bart flinched but didn't run and said rapidly, "HeyareyouandRoytogether?"

"No." Even after everything she'd gone through, the past always came to bite Artemis in the butt. Cheshire had her eye on Roy, who had only considered Artemis dateable for about half a second in the first place, and the masked assassin warned Artemis that she'd spill the beans if she ever tried going after him. Three years, and Artemis still had her secrets. No surprise there.

And Artemis still thought about Wally constantly, though she'd never admit that to Bart.

Bart was the youngest of their team, just a freshman, and the closest to his age was Robin, who was already sixteen and a junior in high school. Artemis had gotten accepted into almost every college she applied for after Gotham Academy, but her unstable attendance record—thanks to her main 'extracurricular' outside of school—kept her from a full ride scholarship at any college or university. Without financial aid, Artemis couldn't afford tuition for any school at all. Of course, her pride kept her from telling anyone about the situation, and insisted that the reason she wasn't attending college was because the team was far more important to her, and college would be a waste of time.

Anyway, Conner Kent and Megan Morse weren't in college either. Roy Harper was, but that was only because the esteemed adopted son of Ollie Queen was obviously expected to.

"Youshouldbewithhim," Bart said quickly with a grin. "Youcouldhavearcherybabies."

Artemis dived at the boy, but Bart ran away in a burst of speed, disappearing with a mad cackle that sounded eerily similar to Robin's laughter, the way it had been before his voice started to deepen last year. Robin had been devastated, she distinctly remembered.

Grumbling to herself, Artemis stood, brushing off the gritty brown dirt that covered her knees and palms. "Stupid, irritating boy…"

Thunder boomed and the dark grey sky crackled with lightning. Artemis jumped. "Great," she said, bracing herself for a downpour. With her luck, it was highly likely.

But it didn't rain, and Artemis was not instantly drenched to the bone as she had expected. Instead, bolts of lightning struck the dry earth, spraying soil everywhere and causing the ground to sizzle dangerously. She yelped and scrabbled for cover. Finding none, Artemis swallowed and said her prayers—all the practice and training in the world couldn't help a regular human like her against Mother Nature. She wasn't a Kryptonian like Conner, who could walk away from such abuse only slightly dazed.

_At least I'll see Wally._

One final, bright, hot glowing white bolt slammed down in front of her, and Artemis flew back from the impact, shielding herself and feeling blisters form on the exposed skin of her arms.

The warm, heated fog cleared, and a familiar redheaded speedster clad in yellow and red was revealed in the midst of everything, electrical sparks jumping from his body in every direction before they died out. He immediately slumped over, seemingly unconscious, and Artemis rushed forward, her heart pounding in her ears. His hair. His hair. His hair was so orange.

_It couldn't be_. But who else could it possibly be?

"Wally?" She asked brokenly.

An eye fluttered open and showed startling green, and he grabbed her hand. His grip was weak and his voice was hoarse. "Hey, beautiful."

* * *

><p>"This is impossible," Robin said, scratching his head. He hadn't cut his hair in a long time, and it was starting to get shaggy. He paced back and forth across the floor. "But so…<em> amazing<em>. It's… asterous."

Kaldur smiled, leaning against a nearby wall with his arms crossed. His head of white-blond hair, contrasting Robin's, was no different than it had been three years ago, still short and pale. His eyes did not seem as kind as before, hardened by past experiences, and he had grown even more mature in the last few years, if that was possible. "It's good to hear you say that again, Robin."

"Yeah. It's been a while." Robin's lips curved as he glanced at the loudly snoring Wally-sized lump on M'gann's bed. After Artemis had brought him to the Cave, trembling and dazed but looking like she'd won the lottery, the teammates had exploded with shocked joy and all simultaneously attacked him in a sort-of hug that was more or less a football pile-up. Before Wally could explain what had happened to him and before they could contact the Justice League, he promptly fell asleep. On the floor.

Robin turned to Kaldur once more. "What about the grave?"

"Bart," Kaldur said simply.

On cue, the two felt a great whoosh of air as Bart raced into the room and skidded to a stop. For once, he didn't speak extremely fast when he opened his mouth, and for once, he was out of energy. They were all exhausted, even Bart. "Hey," he said wearily, holding up his dirty palms, "Can I wash my hands? Or find a confessional or something? Just violated the grave of my dead cousin."

"What did you find?" Kaldur asked.

"Nothing," Bart responded. "An empty coffin."

Kaldur and Robin looked at each other, then at the shape on M'gann's bed.

"Then it is him," Kaldur said softly. "That's Wally."

There was a beat of silence, and then Robin jumped into the air and whooped.

* * *

><p>"So my body faded and then I felt this force tugging at me—"<p>

"Wally!" Black Canary, or Dinah, dashed forward and enveloped Wally in a hug, her long blond locks covering his face. She'd always been exasperated and aggravated by him, but she'd cried when he died. He was only a _boy. _"You're really here," she breathed, pulling back to get a good look at his face. He was older, but the freckles and eyes and hair—it was all the same."It's you."

"The one and only," Wally grinned, winking, and everyone at the table groaned. For the last half an hour, Wally had been attempting to tell the story of his apparent resurrection, only to be interrupted every five seconds by another superhero who was glad to see him alive again.

"Wally," Iris Allen called out from across the table, "Hurry up, will you?" Her eyes gleamed.

"Okay, Aunt Iris," he said, laughing. "So I was semi-conscious at that point, and lightning was dancing all over me. I thought I was dead, you know? Either floating to heaven through stormy clouds, or feeling the start-up burn of hell. But I wasn't. My molecules were _alive_, and bouncing. Something had jump-started my heart and was bringing me back to life and even _aging _me, and—"

"The Speed Force," Barry interrupted. "It must've been the Speed Force."

"Hush, Barry," Mary West scolded. "Let my son tell his story. He's been gone for three years."

"Yeah, Flash!" Someone hollered in the back. It sounded an awful lot like Bart, unsuccessfully trying to disguise his voice again. Wally smiled. At first, he'd been wary of his reckless replacement, but now he was really starting to like the kid. If Wally had been older, he might've disapproved of Impulse's… well, impulsiveness. But Wally was only eighteen, and he hadn't truly lived for three of those years. Part of him had remained an immature fifteen year old like Bart.

"Kid Flash?" The cool, soothing voice of M'gann's very green uncle J'onn cut through Wally's thoughts. The Martian Manhunter floated over, stunned. Wally felt like a rockstar. "Wally, is that you?"

"The one and only…"

* * *

><p>Things were a little weird now. People treated him differently, but Wally didn't mind. He'd never imagined that he'd die and come back to life—the Speed Force, as Uncle Barry had called it, had collected him up when he had been six feet under, and played with his molecules for three years before putting him in his original suit and dropping him onto the earth. He wondered how much pain his friends and family had been through. It was hard to picture, and just trying made his stomach clench up in guilt, thought it wasn't <em>his <em>fault he had died. And everyone was clearly relieved to have him back again.

Wally also noticed how Artemis was looking at him now. Apparently, his death had affected her a lot. She didn't seem to think that he was an irritating jackass anymore. Maybe it was because of the fact that he had grown in the Speed Force and changed himself to a responsible eighteen year old boy, no, a _man_, so he really _wasn't _an irritating jackass anymore. Wally sure hoped so, because he… he didn't exactly find her annoying either. They had enough time to figure it out later.

"Wally." He glanced up at the sound of his name; everyone had been saying it lately. But when Roy said it, his voice was gentle and happier than Wally had ever known. "I'm glad you're back."

"Me too." He meant it. He'd heard about Roy's drug problems, and the fact that _he _had caused his friend to go that far was heartbreaking. And, in a very morbid way, it was flattering.

"You're not bothered by the whole identity thing? Everyone knows who you are now."

Wally leaned back. "Nah. Everything's alright. I'll sort it out."

"So you're back on the team, then?" Robin asked.

"Well…" Wally looked at M'gann, who was blinking back happy tears. She pulled out something from behind her back and tossed it to him, and he caught it easily. It was a bag of cookies, freshly baked and tied with a red ribbon. "Holy crap, Megs! Thanks!" He opened the bag and started eagerly scarfing down cookies. "Man, I've missed this," he said with his mouth full. "Have I told you how amazing your cookies are?" They seemed actually edible now, but then again, Wally could eat anything.

"Conner helped me." She smiled up at the large boy next to her, who was still gazing at Wally.

Superboy said simply, "We missed you."

Wally's chest felt tight. It was suddenly hard to breathe, but very easy to smile, a goofy grin spreading across his face in a millisecond. "I missed you too, Supes."

"KF, you didn't answer my question," Robin said, though he was smiling as well. Everyone was smiling, Christ. It was like the Joker had come for a visit. "Are you comin' back on the team?"

Wally turned to Bart. "You're okay with having another speedster on the team?"

"Twoisbetterthanone," Bart said at an alarmingly fast speed, bobbing his head up and down excitedly. "Besides, youwereherefirst. Ikindastoleyourplace."

"You didn't," Wally assured him. He pulled his goggles down. "Unless you want to race for it?"

Bart blinked. Then he grinned. "Betyou'retooslowtocatchupwithme."

"Dude, you're on."

The two sped off, Bart cackling with laughter.

Robin was bewildered. "So he's back on the team?" He asked no one in particular.

"Clearly, Boy Wonder," Artemis snorted.

"Hey, hey," he said defensively, "Don't whelm me."

Halfway around the world, Kid Flash laughed, Impulse falling behind. The wind whipped his hair and his arms pumped as his legs moved faster than they'd ever moved before, and witnesses only saw a blur of red and yellow surrounded by lightning-like sparks of energy.

In Central City, they cheered as he passed, and Wally's heart expanded.

"You were missed," someone shouted, "Wally West."

He felt good. It always feels good to be alive.


End file.
